Macedon Faction Guide: Rome Total War

Today we are going to look at the faction of Macedon. Ill be discussing their units, buildings and campaign strategy

[@snowisthebestweather]

I'm most of the way through a Macedonian campaign (H battles/VH campaign), and the Brutii never bothered with Appolonia. Instead, they very annoyingly went after Corinth 2-3 times. I decided to skip taking Appolonia until after taking Tarentum, and the Gauls took Salona before me, though I quickly kicked them out. Love the starting location and the temples. Athens, Rhodes, and Kydonia just print money. Cretan and Illyrian mercenaries are fantastic, especially if you can boost them with a Temple of Artemis, and basic archers with extra experience from Ares and +3 weapons from Artemis can still hit really hard. I will say, militia hoplites can surprise you sometimes, especially when you give them experience with your temples. One of my units was beating a unit of Principes 1 on 1.

[@lugotorix6173]

Yeah I absolutely agree! Great economic opportunities available in the early game, excellent selection of local mercenaries and the Temple of Artemis really complements them well. It's unusual that the Brutii haven't gone for Appolonia in your game, but the AI can be unpredictable at times

[@syphonfillter]

I remember doing a Macedonia play through, it was actually pretty fun. You do end up effectively pushed into the classic Hammer and Anvil style with them (which is already by far the optimal tactic in RTW, but Macedonia takes it to a whole new level); Their Phalanxes are amazing at holding the enemy due to their long spears, while the high charge bonus on the Light Lancers makes enemies crumple like tissue when hit in the rear. Drawback is that yeah the Light Lancers do melt of the enemy puts up any resistance at all as you say - and even when they don't, I found they often still end up taking losses just from the charge due to their weak defense. Very much a glass cannon type unit. Annoying having to retrain them all the time but at least they're relatively easy to access even early game so it's not too bad. Late game when you replace them with the much tougher companion cavalry, then you shouldn't have trouble rushing enemy armies even on VH.

[@alfiegleed189]

Greatest ever faction i think in total war definitely the most fun after you get past the beginning. Also you can Alexander the Great the bajeezus out of any enemy. Just position all your cavalry on one side ( whichever is closest to the enemy general) smash the enemy cavalry on that side, even light lancers are very good with such a high charge value, use your phalanx to keep the enemy troops in place, missile troops if you prefer behind your line, and manoeuvre around behind the enemy line with cavalry. Provided you have eliminated the enemy cavalry they simply cannot maneovre themselves fast enough to deal with it. And on a side note a good starting point is to raise an army across your provinces strong enough to kill Kleomenes of Sparta, he's the strongest ruler in the east and raises troops very quickly so if he is still alive he will make life very difficult when you try to take Greece.

[@MrCrotony]

Selucid is most amazing..using phalanxes, companion cavarly, catharphacs AND elephants. Macedon is pretty amazing to.

[@oh-not-the-bees7872]

Getting spartans in the first 10 turns is almost mandatory. I made the mistake of being cool with Greece in the beginning before they decided to take me over in a sudden blitzkrieg in 3 cities at the border in which I struck back and won. I continued to revenge-pillage the hell out of them until sparta was the last settlement. I threw army after army at them and they seemed to just have more and more men to throw at me. Eventually this caused my downfall in which all my resources were poured into seiges on sparta for 30 turns straight or more. Everything wilted from Germanic raides at the opposite edges of my territory which after one particularly bad positioning mishap (moved serveral armies to the wrong location by mistake, was too lazy to load from start of turn after a ton of exhaustive decisions, management already done and a naive thought process of "I'm sure Rome wont come out of nowhere and fuck my nostrils with pointy sticks while none of my armies can help each other in a fight") Long story short, sparda is a bitch after a few turns.

[@davidsaville5239]

During a Greek campaign, I try to eliminate Macedon early so they don't get units like Royal Pikemen and their elite Cavalry units !!

[@23Revan84]

I won so many multiplayer battles with Macedon, best faction for me.

[@Gioorwhatever]

Me 2

[@fabianustertius6460]

chad macedonia

[@niallreid7664]

I still think it's wild that Macedon of all factions was made unplayable. I can understand all the others for the most part, but Macedon seems to have such a complete roster and interesting playstyle with cool units. Plus, they of all factions are most strongly tied to Alexander. Why did they not think people would want to play them? My only guess is that they didn't want to stamp on Greeces toes. Or that their campaigns are too similar.

[@PAJ_L2001]

Maybe it is because being Macedon can mess up the game a bit. I am playing as Macedon in my current play through and the Brutii have an alliance with the Greeks (and the Scipii have not attacked Syracuse).

[@rance2799]

Macedon alongside pontus have campaign descriptions. So they probably got shafted due to lack of time.

[@connorhudock1950]

Too similar? What about the three roman factions

[@johnirby8847]

Seleucid is more the heir of Alexander in the game for some reason

[@Dan-uf2vh]

what are you saying? light lancers are pretty overpowered for their level; you completely missed out on the significance of 9 charge bonus and for how fast they are

[@sto_karfi842]

Macedon is playable nowadays, the game is unlocked.Also the Macedonians have the best hellenic roster all around.They have law temples to reduce corruption, they have military bonus temples, they have cheap and early on high charge cavalry, their army can eliminate the Romans quite fast.They can recruit the devastating Cretan Archers cause of their location and make chariots useless and their royal pikemen can fight any other armored infantry except the late Roman, but since you can eliminate the Romans early on you not gonna have to worry about Marian legionaries.

[@Xander77Ru]

You're missing the point and purpose of the lancers - 9 charge. 9 CHARGE. That's a light cavalry unit that can function as a battering ram better than some heavy cavalry that cost twice as much. I've seen these bastards rout phalanxes in a head-on charge.

[@Ghengis443]

Half way through my first vh/vh campaign, playing as Macedonia, and omg. The light lancers hut like a dump truck. It's hard not to spam them. They just route everything with cycle charges. I didn't expand east, instead invaded Italy, whiped out the bruti, and just sacked rome. Hoping to finish off the Roman's befor the Marian reforms. Just an amazing cheap unit that kills all.

[@scandinaviannegro]

Light Lancers are the best Macedon unit hands down. You can spam a full stack and charge head on anything in the game.

[@hannibalburgers477]

I dont believe you. No I seriously dont. I played this game, even if you attack phalanx from flanks, your cavalry melts away

[@Xander77Ru]

@@hannibalburgers477 Rebel campaign, VH\VH. You'll use a lot of Milita Hoplites, and the light lancers outright taking them out head-on was a bit of an issue.

[@Tonnyman1993]

@@Xander77Ru Its different when its the AI using them, AI gets bonus morale and attack on VH. Should be something like +7 attack to every unit, a lot of morale as well. No way you can break an AIs militia hoplites but they can break yours.

[@louisdemm1758]

Macedon are a really fun faction to play if you love using Hammer & Anvil. They get access to levies and good cav immediately, so you're good to go from the onset unlike the Seleucids. Plus, you're gonna be destroying the Romans with your pike's and cav no matter what the difficulty. Seriously, they stand zero chance. It's amazing how useless the a.i is at using the Romans. They literally just throw them at you.

[@krk5770]

If I remember correctly you can retrain troops to get their weapon bonus. So scythian mecenaries or cretan archers with +3 missile are gods of destruction. Artemis is the godess

[@BobBob-cy9cu]

I got some units of light lancers to gold experience on a playthrough and they were godly...

[@johngalt5166]

Based

[@RocketHarry865]

They really need to change macedon faction symbol it should have been the Star of Vergina rather than the Lamba which is better known for Sparta

[@armandom.s.1844]

It has been changed in Rome remastered

[@Sol_Invictus510]

Best alliances for Macedonia? I think that would be a cool video to cover alliances in general and how to make them work best as well as best alliances for different factions. Keep up the good work, super happy to use the guides to understand the different factions. Love that this game is on my phone now and crazy to think that I can play it on such a small device whereas one needed a solid computer when it first came out.

[@yniekac8851]

Playing Macedon now. My advice: Ally Dacia. They can keep the germans away and also makes it so that you have to worry less about Scythia

[@jackjackmkx2835]

my nigga keep the content coming you are gold

[@lugotorix6173]

Juck Fesus haha cheers man, I appreciate it

[@jackjackmkx2835]

Lugotorix cheers

[@Vektordeformacio]

Pikeman are more of an agressive unit than hoplites. You shall engage with them in an even numbered fight. Archers will be good with damage, but range will not be the maximum. Artemis temples are really good. All I ever missed for my playstyle was some skirmishing cav. With macedon it is less a crash of weaves, but more chess. Awesome cavalry tho.

[@alexanderthegreat445]

Do you play BI? If so, Cretan Archers remind me of Vandal Raiders which you can hire in the Worth-Western Steppe. They have ridiculous range and missile attack. If they were more numerous and widespread, they would probably used just as much as Cretans.

[@lugotorix6173]

Alexander the Great I haven't played Barbarian Invasion for a while but I do vaguely remember the Steppe Raiders. Missile troops with long range can be some of the best in the game

[@roberttaylor8906]

17:20 is there any reason to the +5 farms/food production bonus after you already have a huge city, since that's the requirement to build the pantheon in the first place? if higher population increases squalor and unrest, wouldn't it be better to keep your population in check instead of making it grow even faster after you already have 25k? unless i'm missing something, this high bonus is impractical on a pantheon.

[@johnconnah4569]

You can use them as army factories; for example spamming their recruitment line with royal pikemen in order to have death stacks you can autoresolve with around the map

[@niallreid7664]

You can use them to spam peasants you can move to other settlements to disband them in order to increase growth. That's the only reason I'd build them.

[@Owlr4ider]

Population actually matters in RTW, not sure if the remaster messed that aspect up or not. In the original at least recruiting troops actually took population away from your cities. The opposite also applied by the way, dismissing a unit inside a city increased the city's population. So what you can do is train cheap peasants in your large and huge cities than send them over to your smaller towns and dismiss the peasants to basically transfer population from your larger cities to your smaller ones. Also remember that it's the population that actually pays you taxes so the higher your population the more taxes you will receive, so even when it comes to huge cities the more pop you have the more money you will make, but also the more unhappiness you will generate via squalor and such so it's a balancing act.

[@michaelaburns734]

Alexander the Great's Home.

[@Dan-uf2vh]

as the Brutii, I allied with Macedon early on (including military access) and later BOUGHT Corinth for only 11000 denarii.. I'm satisfied to leave it at that as I have little interest in territories to the north although by this point I could betray them at any point for a couple of regions in northern Greece (Larissa and Thessalonica)

[@martonk]

Just the most OP faction imo.

[@itsjustdewieman]

Nah my brudda other faction do the job better. look to the desert if you wanna see the greatest. Seluicids, Armenia, Egypt, Carthage

[@-CrimsoN-]

I thought it was universally accepted that Egypt is the most OP faction in the game. They have a ridiculous amount of wonders and an insanely strong economy. Decent and totally bronze age army lol

[@johnirby8847]

@@itsjustdewieman Are you talking about against the computer ai or against a human opponent? Macedon is so OP it's insane.

[@niallreid7664]

Nah that's post Marion Rome.

[@spencervandyke1552]

Still shocks me how you only have 11k subs...

[@RocketHarry865]

I think the archer unit for all Hellenistic (Greek States, Macedonia, Pontos and Seleucid) factions should be replaced with the Greek Archer which is pretty much the same but with reduced missile damage from 7 to 4. Also slingers should have their range massively increased to long range and as historically in antiquity slingers outraged archers. This way the Hellenistic factions should be more reliant on slingers and the javelin units or at least have pay the expensive fees for Cretean Archers

[@htoosaw9012]

No

[@RocketHarry865]

@@htoosaw9012 Yes.

[@htoosaw9012]

@@RocketHarry865 bruh

[@JonathanEasterwood]

It kinda sucks that Macedonia does not have the Macedonian silver sheilds, they were an elite Macedonian unit and I think they were the personal body guard for alexander.

[@JonathanEasterwood]

The pronunciation of the greek gods is correct on all of them.

[@EvilxSausage]

Wouldn't it make sense, as Macedon, to play the Greeks and Brutii against each other and then attack the winner?

[@johnirby8847]

I usually let them fight each other first. But make sure to build a strong army because the King of Sparta will produce stacks of good units. So be careful.

[@EvilxSausage]

@@johnirby8847 that's what I said, that it would make sense to play them off against one another and then fight the one that's left.

[@armandom.s.1844]

Not good strategy in my opinion, just because it will give Brutii more time to get stronger and eventually unstoppable. Attack Greeks as quickly as possible and organize a strong defence if Brutii attack.

[@michaelkats6196]

Why Macedonian campaign has the same intro with Greek cities?

[@Sp33dyStallion]

Because you can't normally play as the Macedons. You have to make a change in the files to play as them. Plus they are still greek, so it does kinda work.

[@Jordan67145]

All Greek factions have the same intro: The Greek Cities, Macedon, The Seleucid Empire and Thrace (I'm not really sure about Thrace, but I think they have the same intro too.)

[@nikosr265]

Because they’re Greek. The “Greek Cities” are extremely historically inaccurate. In history, Greece was broken up in 270 BC between Macedon, Sparta, Athens etc. Ironically, the only time the Greeks were close to united in ancient times was under Phillip II and Alexander the Great in the Hellenic League. Except for Sparta, of course, which remained independent from Phillip and Alexander. Amusingly, Alexander makes note of this when he sends spoils back to Greece and specifically says “except the Lacedaemonians (Spartans)” lol

[@baronbrummbar8691]

The Greek Cities are just an alliens lead by sparta --- that is why athen is a rebel city in the beging

[@otakuravedoctor]

Umm area north of Greece? The area macedon controls comprises most of modern day Greece m8

[@djtheo8555]

only the Greeks have the right to use the name Macedonia. History and Culture is not negotiable

[@beetlebubz6469]

Alexander the Great was not Grecian.

[@RocketHarry865]

@@beetlebubz6469 Modern Macedonians have nothing in common with the Ancient Macedonians save name. Modern Macedonians are Slavic pretenders but they do have a right to exist.

[@beetlebubz6469]

@@RocketHarry865 I did not say that modern Macedonians have connections to ancient Macedonians, I'm simply stating that the ethnic grouping of Macedonia was a melting pot, and after Alexander's conquests, were even more so. I apologize if my original comment did not convey that

[@natetang6335]

Except that Greeks only appropriated Alexander's identity after centuries. In fact the contemporary greeks at Philips and Alexander's times considered Macedonians to be uncultured barbarians invading their lands. Modern Macedonians shouldn't lay sole claim to Alexander's identity, but neither should the Greeks. It isn't improbable that the Slavs have a mixed ancestry based on the region. Just as it isn't improbable that the Greeks have a mixed ancestry with Alexander and his people. Just as it isn't improbable that me, as a Chinese man living in Singapore have a mixed ancestry based on the region. that including how many cultural identities, including ethnicity and nationality are socially manufactured, really means that no one should give a damn about which one nationality, both of which reside in a similar region, should lay claim to the identity of a man who existed more than two millennia ago, in said region.

[@G30rg31415]

@@johnnymlad8472 Too bad DNA is not disputable and language is.Macedonians were Greeks.

[@vmro9446]

MAKEDONIA

[@mrsimple4697]

Macedon is to good, it gets boring

[@michaelkats6196]

Macedonian faction has GREEK gods.

[@goodbanter4427]

Yeah, because they were culturally Greek lmao

[@SuperMoodyyy]

Ggx gang

[@itsjustdewieman]

their greek bro.

[@hannibalburgers477]

Ho ho ho, then why they luose? Why they luose?